Credit cards which offer rewards or rebates based upon usage of the credit facility are common. Credit card firms such as Visa and MasterCard, automobile manufacturers, rental car companies, department stores, long distance telephone companies, financial institutions and other organizations have offered a number of different programs for promoting purchases of goods and services. Some offer free airline tickets while others offer credit toward the purchase of gasoline, automobiles or movie rentals.
The present invention allows credit card issuers to promote purchases of goods and services using the credit facility while at the same time encouraging individuals to save and invest for retirement the invention offers multiple investing methods to achieve that goal.
In the current environment of (1) high credit card use, and (2) low savings and inadequate planning for retirement, a system which provides incentives to credit card users to begin saving for retirement or college, or increase or accelerate retirement or college savings is an idea whose time has come. The use of the invention described herein will introduce the spending side of the population to the saving side.
The present invention is particularly timely at a time when social security payments from the Federal government are no longer assured and, in the long term, many corporations are discontinuing or phasing out their long-standing pension programs. Similarly, the cost of a college education has never been higher and if current estimates are to be believed, will continue to rise dramatically.
The present invention offers individuals the opportunity to "spend their way to retirement" or to spend their way to a quality college education for their children.